How To Cut Down On Data Usage On Smart Devices

Smart devices (phones and tablets) are certainly what they are – SMART ! 🙂

However enjoying this smartness to the full comes with a price – the price being the cost of internet connection. The good news is that some of the apps that run on these smart devices can actually work without internet connection. Sadly, the ubiquitous apps which drove many people [like me], into buying smart devices, cannot run without internet connection. Thus, apps like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Email, WordPress, WhatsApp, Blackberry and a host of other very useful apps simply become “useless” without internet connection.

I have been sharing with friends and colleagues on how to conserve data plans and hence ensure that their smart devices are not under utilised because of the high costs of internet connection.

Please check out my tips on how to make your data balance last longer:

Avoid auto updates – Do not set your phone to “auto update.” If you do and there is an available app update, the update starts as soon as you subscribe to a data plan and get connected. If you are an Android user, you can go to Play Store => ≡ => settings => Auto-update apps. and check (select) ‘Do not auto-update apps”. Since updates are very important for the proper functioning of the apps and for your online security, check the box “Notify me about updates to apps or games that I downloaded.” Others can check the Stores of their various devices.

The advantage of this is that you determine whether to update an app(s) or not based on your data balance.

Avoid unnecessary downloads – I have a view friends who download everything including apps that are useless to them or which they cannot use 🙂 Downloads consume a lot of data, often more than what you see on your screen.

Avoid unnecessary browsing – Use the internet only when you need to. There are some web sites/pages that consume a lot of data after it is fully loaded. Facebook and YouTube and other video streaming sites consume a lot of data. So, mere fiddling with your beautiful smart device cuts down your data balance.

Turn off apps you can do without – Running in the background are some apps. For Android users go to Settings => Apps => swipe to RUNNING and chose the app(s) you can do without for the mean time. I am referring to apps you usually use like Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and others. It does not include those required for the functioning of your device.This safes you a lot of data.

Similarly, you can also log out from apps not currently in use. This also saves you useful data allowance.

Switch off your internet connection when not in use – If you will not use your device for a long time, like when you want to sleep at night, switch off the internet connection. This also cuts down on battery usage. The good news is that if you have turned on your notifications, they will all arrive as soon as you are connected.

Use a good browser – From experience, Google Chrome is not only good in performance, security and features, but is also good in saving data.

Michael M.

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